Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page said on Thursday that the riff he is accused of stealing for the band's 1971 hit "Stairway to Heaven" is in fact a commonly used chord progression similar to a melody from the 1964 movie musical "Mary Poppins".
Published : 17 Jun 2016, 12:34 PM
Page, with his ex-bandmate Robert Plant looking on, took the witness stand for a second day in a copyright infringement trial in a Los Angeles federal court.
The civil action, brought by a trustee for Randy Wolfe, the late guitarist for the American band Spirit, contends the British band stole the descending chromatic four-chord progression at the beginning of their signature song from Spirit's 1967 instrumental "Taurus".
Page, under questioning by an attorney for the plaintiff, repeatedly said he was not sure whether any similarity exists between "Stairway to Heaven" and "Taurus".
He was quicker to draw a comparison to "Chim Chim Cher-ee" in "Mary Poppins", when asked about a written declaration he gave for the lawsuit where he talked about "Stairway" and the more uptempo song from the Disney film.